Binding of sheets of paper,card or other sheet material



Nov. 25, 1969 L. J. MORRIS 3,479,676

F SHEETS OF PAPER, CARD OR OTHER SHEET MATERIAL BINDING O 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 50, 1968 @Aa mm a o 9 MN 8 Q 9 Q Q .QN NW 3 Q @Q mm Leslie Ina. MM.

mvmma L- J. MORRIS Nov. 25, 1969 BINDING OF SHEETS OF PAPER, CARD OR OTHER SHEET MATERIAL Filed Jan. 50, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVEMTOR numik L esl'm Ina Morris.

United States Patent US. Cl. 11-1 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The specification describes an apparatus enabling the side flanges of a resilient channel member to be prised apart to enable a stack of loose leaves to be inserted. The machine has two blades, one of which is fixed and the other of which is mounted on a pivoted support for swinging movement towards and away from the fixed blade. The channel member is disposed with the two blades between the side flanges of the channel and is resiliently supported by a spring platform. The movable blade is operated to open the channel, the marginal portion of the stack of leaves is then inserted between the blades into the channel and is pressed downward to depress the platform and disengage the channel member from the blades so that the member closes round the marginal portion of the leaves.

This invention relates to the binding of sheets of paper, card or other sheet material.

It is known to use for binding or securing such a pack an elongated, channel shaped member which receives and grips one edge, of the pack. The channel member may be made from a resilient material and in its undeformed state the edges of its flanges are more or less in contact with each other. In the normal way of using such a member a corner of a pack of sheets is introduced into the space between the flanges at one end of the member so as to separate them, whereupon the member is slid along one edge of the pack.

This operation can be difficult and time consuming especially if the thickness of the pack approaches the maximum that can be accommodated by a particular channel member.

According to this invention there is provided a device for securing together a pack of superposed sheets of sheet material by an elongated channel shaped member which is made from a resilient material and which receives and grips one edge of the pack, the side flanges of said member in the undeformed state being inclined towards each other and having their edges close together, which device comprises a pair of elongated blades arranged face to face over which blades the member may be slid so that the blades are disposed between the flanges of the member, and means for separating the blades, whereby the flanges of the member are separated to enable said edge of the pack to be disposed between the flanges.

According to a preferred feature of the invention, the construction and arrangement of the device is such that after the edge of the pack has been fully received in the opened member, pressure exerted on the pack in a direction towards the member causes the flanges of the member to disengage from the blades. In such arrangements, there may be provided means for limiting the-distance by which the blades project between the flanges, and a spring-loaded platform for supporting the member in engagement with the blades and urging the member over the blades to the maximum extent permitted by the limiting means and for permitting said disengagement of the flanges from the blades.

3,479,676 Patented Nov. 25, 1969 ice In one preferred construction, one of the blades is fixed and the means for separating the blades is cam-controlled, comprising a cam and a follower whereof one is mounted on a fixed part of the device and the other is connected to move with the other of said blades.

One embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which- FIGURES 1, 2 and 3 are side views showing the mechanism in successive positions of operation.

Referring to FIGURE 1, the device comprises a fixed frame 10 having a wide slot at the top thereof, and having two elongated blades 11, 12 disposed face to face in the slot. These blades are seen in and viewed in the drawings. The two blades are mounted on respective plate members 13, 14 and extend above and below the plate members, the parts 11a, 12a of the blades above the plate members being divergent from each other. Plate member 14 is fixed to the frame 10, but member 13 is secured to an arm 15 which is pivotally mounted at 16 on the frame 10, so that the arm can be rotated to move blade 11 towards and away from blade 12. I

Arm 15 carries two rollers 17, 18 which constitute earn followers co-operating with respective cam edges of a cam plate 19 which is rotatably mounted on a pivot 20 carried by the frame 10. The cam edge engaged by roller 18 has two arcuate end rest indentations .21, 22 and between these two indentations a series of indentations 23 which are disposed at successively increasing radial distances from pivot 20. The cam edge engaged by roller 17 has an arcuate indentation 24 and a portion 25 curving towards pivot 20.

Below plate members 13, 14, a platform 26 is disposed and has a stem 27 which is slidably mounted in a hollow support pillar 28 fixed to the frame 10 and which is encircled by a compression spring 29 urging the platform towards the plate members. The limiting position of the platform in this direction is indicated in chain lines.

The resilient channel-shaped binding member is shown at 30 and is inserted endwise (the platform 26 having first been depressed) so that the two blades are disposed between the flanges of the member 30. A stop 31 is mounted on the casing and its position is adjustable in a direction lengthwise of the blade 12. The member is inserted until its end abuts the stop, so that the position of the member is determined. When the platform 26 is released, it presses the member 30 upwards until the edges of the flanges abut the plate members 12 and 13, limiting the extent to which the blades can project between the flanges. The cam plate 19 is next rotated in the direction of the arrow as shown in FIGURE 2 to separate the blades, and hence the flanges of member 30, to an extent sufficient to allow the pack 32 of sheets to be bound to be inserted between the flanges. The indentations 23 permit the cam plate to be maintained in various positions providing successively increasing spacings between the blades. The roller 18 is held in engagement with the cam plate solely by the resilience of member 30. A further adjustable stop 33 is mounted on the frame 10 and serves for endwise location of the pack 32 of sheets. The pack is inserted between the blades 11, 12 as indicated in FIGURE 2, entry being facilitated by the di vergent blade portions 11a, 12a. After the edge of the pack 32 has been fully enclosed in the channel member 30, downward pressure on the pack causes the channel member to move downward with platform 26 and to be pushed off the blades 11, 12, whereupon the flanges of the member 30 grip the pack. The position is now as shown in FIGURE 3, and it can be seen that since blade 11 is no longer held by a flange of member 30, the arm 15 rotates about its pivot 16 to bring roller 17 into contact with cam edge 25 and to provide a wider separation between the blades, thus permitting easy withdrawal of the bound pack. Rotation of the cam plate 19 in the reverse direction brings the device into the position shown in FIGURE ready for the next binding operation.

For permitting the adjustment of the positions of the stops 31, 33, the stops may have slots extending parallel to the blades and fixing screws extending through the slots into the frame 10.

It will be appreciated that the length of the blades is determined by the maximum dimension of pack which it is required to bind.

The above device enables a much greater number of packs to be bound in a given time than is possible by simply prising the flanges of the member apart manually, and will handle a wide range of sizes and lengths of channel members.

I claim:

1. A device for securing or binding together a pack of superposed sheets of sheet material by an elongated channel-shaped binder member which is made from a resilient material and which receives and grips one edge of the pack, the side flanges of said member in the undeformed state being inclined towards each other and having their edges close together, which device comprises a pair of elongated blades having planar face portions arranged face to face over which blades the member may be slid so that the blades are disposed between the flanges of the member; means for supporting and separating the blades thereby to separate the flanges of the member to enable said edge of the pack to be disposed between the flanges; means for limiting the distance by which the blades project between the flanges; and a platform including means to resiliently position the platform for supporting the member in engagement with the blades and urging the member over the blades to the maximum extent permitted by the limiting means, and for permitting pressure exerted on the pack of sheet material in a direction towards the member, after the edge of the pack has been fully received in the opened member, to depress the platform to cause the flanges of the member to disengage from the blades.

2. A device as defined in claim 1, further comprising first stop means for limiting movement of the member lengthwise of the blades in one direction.

3. A device as defined in claim 1 further comprising second stop means for limiting movement of the pack lengthwise of the blades in one direction.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1 including means for supporting one of the blades in a fixed manner relative to the other.

5. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein each blade is provided with a planar portion angularly offset from the aforesaid planar face portion, said blades being supported relative to each other with the angular offset portions being oppositely disposed to provide converging guide portions to facilitate insertion of the pack of sheet material into the binder member.

6. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the means for separating the blades include cam-controlled means disposed in operative association with the means supporting said blades.

7. A device as claimed in claim 6 including means for supporting one of the blades in a fixed manner relative to the other and wherein the cam-controlled means cornprises a cam and a follower whereof one is mounted on a fixed part of the device and the other is connected to move with the other of said blades.

8. A device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the cam has a cam surface formed with a series of depressions along its length in which the follower can rest and manitain the blades apart, the spacings between the blades represented by successive depressions being different from each other.

9. A device as claimed in claim 7, wherein said other of the blades is pivotally mounted on a fixed part of the device for its movement towards and away from said on of the blades.

10. A device as defined in claim 7 including means to resiliently maintain the cam follower in engagement with the cam surface solely by the engagement of said other of the blades with the resilient channel-shaped member.

References Cited- UNITED STATES PATENTS 887,979 5/1908 Stockwell 129--37 1,443,522 1/ 1923 Buchan 129-37 1,580,459 4/ 1926 Westland 129-'-37 2,898,613 8/ 1959 Frederick.

FOREIGN PATENTS 900,327 12/ 1953 Germany.

LAWRENCE CHARLES, Primary Examiner 

